Compressed audio information

ABSTRACT

Compressed entertainment content such as audio or video or both includes additional aspects and operations associated their way. The compressed audio may be used to signal computers such as a telephone or reminder for an appointment. A melody line may be extracted from the audio, or the audio may be used exactly as it is. Another aspect stores traders within the entertainment content such as in MP3. Those traders are used to trigger the system to retrieve other parts of the content to be displayed at the same time that that particular part of the MP3 is being play. The content may include video or text, or maybe links to other content such as broadband content four times sensitive content. Another aspect describes encryption which is keyed to the disk ID to prevent playing oven illegally copied disk. Another aspect reads a specified amount of information then spins down the disk to conserve battery power.

BACKGROUND

Audio and video information may be compressed to remove redundancywithin the information. This allows the information to be stored usingless memory. It is common to store audio as MP3 format which uses areduced amount of memory. The advantage of storing the information is inthis way is that a fixed amount of memory, such as available in aportable MP3 player or the like, may actually store more audioinformation.

MP3 players are commonly found in various types of computing devices.Stand-alone computers can play MP3's, as can Personal Digital Assistants(quote PDAs”), telephones, and other devices. Any electronic devicewhich includes some kind of processing element can be used to read andwrite compressed audio and video information.

SUMMARY

The present invention teaches such applications which are made possibleby the form of compressed information. According to an embodiment, extrainformation is stored within the compressed information. This extrainformation may be information that is associated with the information,or may be encryption information. In another embodiment, an improved wayof storing this information is described.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects will now be described in detail with referenceto the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1A shows a fixed media reader type of MP3 player;

FIG. 1B shows a moving media typed reader for an MP3;

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of a signing a specified melody to an event ona PDA or other personal computer;

FIG. 3 shows a format of and MP3 which includes extra informationtherein;

FIG. 4 shows different kinds of content which can exist within the extrainformation;

FIG. 5 shows an encryption system for an MP3;

FIG. 6 shows the format of the encryption system;

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of reading the encryption system;

FIG. 8 shows another embodiment in which battery life can be preservedin a moving reader type of compressed information system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While the present embodiment describes storing audio information in MP3format, it should be understood that this is an embodiment of thegeneral concepts described herein which are applicable to any kind of orformat of either compressed audio information or compressed videoinformation. Typically, the compressed file of the type described hereinis compressed relative to the original size file representing theinformation. While the embodiment refers to MP3's, it should beunderstood that these techniques are also applicable to other formatsincluding other compressed audio formats, compressed moving videoformats such as MPEGs, compressed shingle image formats such as JPEG'sand others.

There are basically two different types of readers for this compressedinformation. A fixed type reader is shown in FIG. 1A. In this reader,the memory media 100 is inserted into an electronic device whichincludes a processor 125 therein. FIG. 1A shows the device 110 as beinga portable telephone. However, the device may be any device, portable orotherwise, that includes a processor therein. Various types of readersand media of this type are known. For example, the media 100 may becomplex flesh, as the media, on memory stick (Sony) for others. Themedia is typically a relatively compact size nonvolatile storage memory.

The memory is read by the device, which typically includes display 115,user interface 120 which controls aspects of reading such as the trackbeing read, and the processor/memory 125. The processor and memory 125may decode the compressed MP3 information, and the decoded informationis outputted to the reproduction hardware which may include a speaker126 and/or display screen 115. This device is referred to herein asbeing a fixed reader, since the memory 100 is not moved during playback.

A second, moving type reader is shown in FIG. 1B. This device iseffectively a legacy type device in which the information is spread overthe surface of a physical part. A reading head is moved relative to thestorage medium to obtain information from the different parts of thesurface which store that information. The most common type of movingreader is a rotating disk reader. In this device, the MP3 information isstored on a round disk 155 which is rotated to receive the informationtherefrom. The reader 150 rotates the disk to receive the informationwhich is sent to the PDA 160 and reproduced through the speakers. Othertypes of moving readers may include DVDs, mini disks, and other similardisk technology.

These compressed formats take up less space on the medium as comparedwith the uncompressed audio formats. This means, however, that thereader actually needs to read less data from the medium in order toreproduce the original data stream. For example, in order to play aspecified one minute song, a moving reader 150 needs to read less datafrom an MP3 encoded disk 155, then it would need to read from a regularCD. The reader reads less data and therefore there is extra time betweenthe reading.

In addition, the processors which are associated with these readersoften include significant computing power. For example, in a cellularphone, the reader may include electronics which carry out cellular phonefunctions, analog to digital conversion, and other complicatedmathematical operations. These electronics may have sufficientprocessing power to carry out many other functions. This is especiallytrue when the reader of the MP3 information is also carrying out anotherfunctions such as a PDA or cellular telephone.

According to an embodiment, the enhanced processing power is used for anadditional function. An embodiment is described with reference to theflowchart of FIG. 2 which may be executed in any of the processors shownor described herein. This embodiment is intended to be used with adevice/application which signals a user that an “event” has occurred.For example, when used in a cellular telephone embodiment, the “event”may be an incoming calls such as a ring tone in a conventional cellulartelephone. In a PDA, the event may represent an appointment or otherreminder for a user. A computer may signal the user about differentevents including ring tones, incoming faxes, reminders, and others.According to this embodiment, the information from the MP3 file is usedas part of the signaling of the event.

The operation begins at 200 where the processor reads an MP3/compressedinformation. This information may represent a specific audio song beingreproduced. 205 represents playing this information on demand. Forexample, there may be a play button or play function which signals thecomputer to play this information. At 210, a part of the MP3, referredto herein as a “melody”, is assigned to the event. The melody that isassigned can be selected in many different ways. The Figure shows thatthe most often played melody may be selected. In this case, the systemstores a list of the most commonly played melodies, and selects the mostoften played melody as the event reminder tone. Another alternative isthat the last melody that was played becomes the event reminder tone.The melody that is played may actually be a clip from the MP3, or may bea melody line. At 215, the melody line may optionally be extracted. Thisis done by reviewing the compressed audio information to determine theactual tones representing the notes of the melody line. The fundamentalfrequency within the music notes may be determined, the melody lineextracted, and this melody line stored as notes and times of thosenotes. Since this kind of storage requires only storage of musical notesand times, this storage may require relatively little memory. Each ofthe melody lines may be assigned with a numerical designation, forexample.

One system may also find the “chorus” of the song being played. Forexample, this may be postulated as the most commonly repeating block ofmelody line. Alternatively, an artificial intelligence system mayanalyze the content of the song to find the most likely portion thatrepresents the chorus. The system may also assign the chorus to theevent in an embodiment. Again this chorus may be the chorus of the mostoften played song or simply the chorus of the last played song.

This system may therefore continuously vary the signal that isassociated with the event. Alternatively, the user may simply manuallyassign information to the event. Also, if the compressed informationincludes video information, either MPEG video information or associatedvideo information stored within the MP3 as described herein, then thesignaling of the event may also includes a video segment.

At 220, the processing device monitors for the specific event. Forexample, the processor may monitor for an incoming telephone call, ormay monitor for the time of reminder of the event. When the event isdetermined to occur at 220, the melody which is obtained at 210, 215 isplayed at 225.

In this way, the device, which already includesan MP3 player, may useinformation from the MP3 material to assign a specified melody to aspecified event. That melody may be an actual clip of audio or videoinformation, or may be an extracted melody line. The melody may be userselectable, automatically selected, or constantly changing.

As described above, since the data is compressed, there is less data toread for a given clip of musical information. Hence, the reader canactually read the material from the medium faster than it would be ableto read from comparable uncompressed readers. This effectively gives thereader some spare time.

In this embodiment, extra content is stored within the MP3, and thespare time is used to read and display this extra content. Existingformats such as MP3 already have the ability to store some extra contentwithin the signal. For example, MP3 may store certain kinds of textabout the signal being played. In this embodiment, the compressedinformation is in the format shown in FIG. 3. The sound is stored aspackets 300, 310 and the like. Extra information may be interspersedbetween two adjacent packets. For example, extra information 305 may bestored between packet 1 and packet 2. Extra information such as 315 maybe stored after packet 2. This may be done in conventional form, or mayinclude additional area where more data can be stored.

The extra information such as 315 may be associated with the sound thatis played at the time of the packet that comes after it. For example,while the sound at 310 is being played, the reader may also read theextra information 315. The specific extra information 315 may be playedat the time of packet 310 and therefore represent content that isassociated with packet 310. That information is played at the same timeas the specific sound with which it is associated. The information 315may not be the information itself, but may rather be an addressindicating information that is somewhere else within the clip, or anaddress indicating some other destination for the information.

In addition, between two adjacent songs or programs there is oftensilence shown as 320. Additional content 325 may be stored during thesesilences between the tracks. Extra content may also be stored at the endof the entire information, for example after the end of the whole album.

The content to be played during the packet 2 (310) may not necessarilybe stored in 315. Importantly, however, 315 stores some kind of triggerto play the content at address x. This content may rather be stored at325, but triggered by the extra information at 315.

The specific content is shown in FIG. 4. This content may include videoinformation, still picture information, album liner type informationsuch as notes, lyrics, web site links, and club links, links toinformation about other CDs or albums, and/or music videos for links tomusic videos. All of this information may be stored in multipledifferent resolutions, for example a first resolution for display on aPDA or telephone and a second resolution for display on a computer. Theinformation may alternatively be stored as simply low resolutioninformation with links to an Internet site that stores additionalresolution information. In this case, the low resolution information maybe displayed immediately, while the system first determines if thedisplay is capable of displaying more detail. If so, then the systemattempts to link to the broadband content to improve the resolution ofthe information which is displayed. The system may use a progressivescan type display where the first part of the display that isimmediately displayed is a low resolution version, and this lowresolution version is actually stored as part of the MP3. Additionalinformation to improve the resolution may be obtained from the websitelink.

The extra information may simply be a link to date sensitiveinformation. For example, it may be a link to the concert schedule forthe artist that is playing the MP3 information. When the link isexecuted, the website storing this concert information is executed,thereby obtaining up to date, date sensitive information.

This information may be buffered, to be played at the time of thetrigger 316. Alternatively, the reading may simply hop around fromaddress to address to play the information in real time.

The computer which runs this decoder may be a stand-alone computer withan Internet connection, or may be a cellular telephone which hasInternet via cellular capability.

A recurring concern with compressed music forms such as MP3s occursbecause they are so relatively easy to copy. An abuser could easily copythe entire content of their particular music program to MP3 form, thenpost that to a web site or newsgroup. This effectively allows anyonewith Internet access to download the MP3. Once someone buys a disklegitimately, that person can provide the content of the desk too manyother people in this way. This pirating may cost revenues to therecording industry.

According to this embodiment, a technique is described which uses anencryption system to ensure that royalties are properly paid for suchitems. The encryption code may be part of the additional informationstored as shown in FIG. 4. This system as shown in the context of a disk500, however this may also be used with other media as described herein.As in other embodiments, this system can include a reader which includeselectronics to read specified information from an optical disk.

In the embodiment, the disk has a unique serial number 502 which isprovided by the manufacturer, and these unique to the specific disk. Theprocessor takes this serial number at 504, as well as the music content506 that is to be stored on the disk.

The writer 510 combines the disk serial number with the music content506 using an encryption function shown as 515. For example, theencryption function as described herein may be a one-way function of atype that produces a large number. The theory of encryption using largenumbers is well-established. Briefly speaking, usually this uses afactoring system where decoding to check the veracity of the largenumber is easy, but attempting to form of valid number surreptitiouslyis difficult. For example, a code may be selected which might require 35years of brute force effort in order to form the codes surreptitiously.The large number 522 is then stored on the disk associated with themusic content shown as 520. The code is therefore keyed to the contenton the disk, in a form which may follow the content shown in FIG. 6. Thecontent 600 may be mixed with encryption information 605 which mayinclude an encryption key, content checksum, disk ID, content ID, andencrypted information.

In operation, the reader may operate to read the disk as well as readinginformation determining whether the disk is authorized. At 700, thesystem reads from the disk. Initially, a threshold test may be carriedout at 702 determining if the disk is a stamped disk or some kind ofrecordable disk. A stamped disk may automatically be played in anembodiment, since these are so much more difficult to counterfeit. It isalso difficult to individualize such stamped disks. However, in analternative embodiment, a pre recorded disk may also be tested in asimilar way.

If 702 determines that the currently played disk is not a stamped disk,then 705 may check the veracity of the encrypted number 522 on the diskusing the local (public) key of a public key encryption system. This keymay be stored locally in all readers, and using known cryptographictechniques, the knowledge of the decryption key tells you nothing aboutthe encryption key. The accuracy may be tested only once, or may betested every few seconds. If the result of the test is okay at 710, thenthe information is played at 720. If not, the reader may refuse to playthe disk at 715.

This system may require that the cryptographic technology be added toall readers. However, this cryptographic technology may preventsurreptitious copying. In an embodiment, the system may allow the userto buy licenses for various MP3 technologies. When a license ispurchased for specific technologies, the user is given an encrypted keyor onetime use software that produces the encrypted key for one disk ID.For example, the user may upload the information, and received backinformation that includes the encryption information thereon. This mayhave significant advantages of allowing the system that assigns the keyto determine who should get the royalties. Another embodiment may allowdisks to be prepurchased which have a special key thereon enabling themto be written with MP3 information. The user pays for that special keymuch in the same way that they pay for any license. Of course, time IDswhich allow the user to copy as many disks as they want in a specifiedtime, or unlimited IDs, can also be purchased.

The above system has described this technique for use with MP3's andaudio. However, the same techniques may be used for programs andcomputer information stored on disks. For example, a programs stored ona prerecorded disk may be automatically read, while a program stored ona recordable disk may require additional security information. This mayalso be used with a videodisc or any other type of entertainment media.

Another embodiment, shown with reference to FIG. 8, relates mostly tomoving media such as CDs and DVDs. MP3 is that are stored on this kindof moving media can convey the information much faster than is neededand as described above can provide spare capacity. However, this alsomeans that the conventional moving techniques may be much more thannecessary to play back the disk. When operating a portable device suchas in MP3 reader that operates from a battery, the spinning of the diskmay use a lot of the battery power. During playing, the media isconventionally continuously moved. This may waste battery power comparedto what is really necessary to read the information from the disk. Theembodiment shown at FIG. 8 may conserve battery power. At 800, a playcommand is received. This is followed by 805 which commands moving themedia in a way that fills the buffer. The buffer may be for example asufficient buffer to store five minutes of information. At this time, at810, the media movement is terminated so that no further battery poweris used to read the media. The system then proceeds to read from thebuffer at 810. At 815, when the buffer reaches a specified percentage ofemptiness (shown here as a percent) which may be 5 percent, the processrepeats with the media being spun up, and reading occurring to fill thebuffer.

This embodiment may also be usable with non compressed desks. Forexample, conventional CD readers read data at a specified rate oftencalled 1×. However, readers which read much faster than this are wellestablished. It is very simple for a reader to read at 40× as of thiswriting, and readers which read at even higher speeds are known andunder development. Accordingly, this system may also be used with areader that reads faster than 1×.

Although only a few embodiments have been disclosed in detail above,other modifications are possible. For example, and primarily, while theabove refers primarily to MP3's, other compressed formats are equallyapplicable to this system. All such modifications are intended to beencompassed within the following claims, in which:

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: storing plural videoclips in a cellular telephone; determining characteristics of an eventto be signaled on the cellular telephone; and associating a specificvideo clip with a specific event; detecting said specific event andplaying said specific video clip to signal said specific event, whereinsaid storing comprises storing information indicative of multipleresolutions for display of said video clips, and wherein said playingcomprises playing a higher resolution video clip at a first time, and alower resolution video clip at a second time, wherein said informationindicative of multiple resolutions includes a link to a website whichincludes information at multiple different resolutions.
 2. A portabletelephone, comprising: a memory storing multiple sections ofinformation, each section of information representing a compressed videoclip; and a processing part, detecting the occurrence of one of multipledifferent events to be signaled to the user, and playing a specificvideo clip for each of the different events, such that each of thedifferent events has a specific video clip which signals the events,wherein said memory stores information indicative of multipleresolutions for display of said video clip, wherein said multiplesections of information stored in said memory includes a link to awebsite which includes a different resolution information than aresolution of said stored sections of information.
 3. A method,comprising: storing, in a portable telephone, multiple items ofcompressed video information and associated compressed audioinformation, each item comprising a video segment; determining theoccurrence of an event in the portable telephone, where the event can beany one of a number of different items that needs to be signaled to theuser, where incoming telephone calls are one of said events, and selectsa first of said video segments to represent the event of said incomingtelephone call, further processing information representing an action onsaid portable telephone other than a telephone call, and selecting asecond of said video segments to represent the event that is other thana telephone call; and responsive to the event, playing the segmentincluding an item of video and audio, wherein said storing comprisesstoring information indicative of multiple resolutions for display ofsaid video segments, and wherein said playing comprises playing a higherresolution video segment at a first time, and a lower resolution videosegment at a second time, wherein said storing stores a link to awebsite which includes multiple different resolutions of information. 4.A method comprising: storing, in a portable telephone, multiple items ofcompressed video information and associated compressed audioinformation, each item comprising a video segment; determining an eventin the portable telephone, where the event is any one of a number ofdifferent items that needs to be signaled to the user, incomingtelephone calls being one of said events, and said portable phoneselecting a first of said video clips to represent the event of saidincoming telephone call, and said portable phone further processesinformation representing another action on said portable telephone otherthan a telephone call, and selects a second of said video clips torepresent the event of said event that is other than a telephone call;and responsive to the event, playing a video segment, where eachspecific video segment represents a specific event, accepting input froma user to change the video segment that is associated with the specificevent; wherein said playing comprises playing only a specified portionof the video segment, and wherein said specific portion is only aportion of the video segment to be played to signal the event, such thatless than the entirety of the entire clip is played to signal the event,and further comprising, for said playing, storing at least one sectionrepresenting video information between two sections representing audioinformation, where said at least one section representing videoinformation includes an address of a website that includes informationrepresenting the video segment to be played at the time that the audioinformation representing the event is being played.